Saturday, January 19, 2019

Vintage Jesus Year C, Epiphany 2, John 2.1-11,

Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.Amen

“Woman, my hour
has not yet come.”

These were the
words Jesus spoke to his mother Mary that day in Cana.

Mary responds to
that by telling the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do.It was as though Mary was indirectly saying
to Jesus, “Yes, your hour has come.Do
something.”

The miracle story
concludes by saying “Jesus did this, the
first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his
disciples believed in him.”

Mary is mentioned
in the Gospel of John in two places only.This is the first.

The second place
is at the foot of the cross:

“Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus
were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary
Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside
her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said
to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the
disciple took her into his own home.”

As Jesus prayed
with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion he said “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son
so that the Son may glorify you, ...”

In this way,
these events at the beginning of Jesus ministry point us to the cross, and the
purpose of his ministry.And just to
help us see that, Mary is present on both occasions, pointing to the gift of
her son.

John the Baptist
introduces Jesus at his baptism with the words: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Then, at the end
of the Gospel, Jesus is crucified at the very time the Passover Lambs are being
sacrificed in the Temple.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world!”

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son”.

Water turned to
wine, and then at the cross from Jesus’ pierced side flowed water and blood.

Everything points
to Jesus, his hour, and his glory, all of which is accomplished on the cross.

As he breathed
his last, he simply says:“It is
finished.”

John differs from
the other Gospels in many ways.One of
the most obvious is that Jesus never celebrates the Passover with his disciples
in Jerusalem in John’s Gospel.Instead,
in the Gospel of John as Jesus gathers with his disciples on the night prior to
his crucifixion he washes their feet and gives them the new commandment, that
they love one another even as he first loved them.

But there is no “this
is my body, this is my blood” in the Gospel of John.

Instead,
throughout John’s presentation of the entirety of Jesus’ ministry is interwoven
with Eucharistic images, and centers on the bread and the wine.

Following the feeding
of the five thousand in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the bread of life:

I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors
ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes
down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves,
saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said
to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of
Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and
drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55
for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh
and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father
sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because
of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which
your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live
forever."

Here at the
Wedding in Cana we have Jesus providing a prodigious amount of wine, 180
gallons worth.Wine that is drawn from
the jars set aside for the Jewish rite of purification.The finest wine.

This is my
body.This is my blood.Given.Shed. That your sins might be forgiven.

I have struggled with the wedding at Cana
miracle.

To put it
bluntly, in my experience booze at weddings has been more of a problem than a
blessing.

In the prayer of
the day in the marriage service there is the phrase “as you gladdened the
wedding at Cana in Galilee by the presence of your Son, so bring your joy to
this wedding by his presence now.”

This “gladdening”
and bringing joy to a wedding, referring to a time when Jesus made water into
wine always seemed like a strange prayer to offer at a wedding.

But even more
strange, in my mind, was that the first miracle of Jesus would involve alcohol,
and a lot of it.

Was Jesus’
purpose to provide the booze, and get people really drunk?

Well, of course
not.It’s not about the alcohol.

It’s about Jesus
blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

There is an irony
about this miracle.

Many an alcoholic
has used the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine as a justification of
their drinking.

And not only
alcoholics, but many others as well have seen this as an affirmation of
alcoholic beverages in general.

Is that the sign
Jesus offered and the revelation of his glory?

Well of course not,
it’s not about the alcohol.

The irony is that
people like me, who have struggled with our own failings as a result of
alcoholism, need the forgiveness offered through Jesus body and blood, but have
instead been encouraged to continue drinking because of Jesus using wine
himself, and here, making a bunch of it.

Given
and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sin.

The water turned
to wine, points to the cross.

It also points to
the marriage feast of the Lamb.

In Revelation
John writes:

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of
a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty
thunderpeals, crying out,

"Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

the Almighty reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready;

8 to her it has been granted to be clothed

with fine linen, bright and pure"—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of
the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, "Write
this:Blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are
true words of God."

From Cana, to the
cross, at the altar, and the marriage feast of the Lamb, wine points us to the
Christ, and his saving work.

The marriage at Cana
anticipates the marriage feast of the Lamb, where we will be joined together
with Christ.

In the beginning,
at creation, it is written that in marriage “the two become one flesh”.

In Jesus’ high
priestly prayer in the 17th chapter of John he prays:

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but
also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they
may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory
that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are
one.”

This is a mystery.

As we share in
Christ’s body and blood, we become one flesh with him.That is the meaning of “communion”,
literally, to ‘come’ into ‘union’.

These are images
of marriage and of our being joined with Christ.

Upon tasting the
water that had become wine, the steward said to the bridegroom:

"Everyone
serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have
become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

And so it shall
be.

The finest wine
will be saved till the last when we drink of it anew in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And the wine that
we drink, will be the cup of salvation that is prepared for us through the
death and resurrection of Christ, his body and blood given and shed for us for
the forgiveness of sins.